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HEATING FURNACE.

N0. 58 702. Patents 4,1897.

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HEATING FURNACE. No. 588,702. Patented Aug. 24,1897,

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I UNrrED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER LAUGHLIN, or SEWICKLEY, AND JOSEF REULEAUX, or

WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA; SAID REULEAUX ASSIGNOR TO SAID LAUGIILIN.

HEATING-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 588,702, dated August24, 1897. Application filed April 30,1897- Serial No. 634.,670. dramas.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, ALEXANDER LAUGH- LIN, residing at Sewickley, andJOSEF. REU- LEAUX, residing at Wilkinsburg, in the county of Alleghenyand State of Pennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have inventedor discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Heating-Furnaces,of which improvements the following is a specification.

Considerable difliculty is experienced in the heating of billets incontinuous furnaces in obtaining a uniform heat throughout all portionsof the billets. This difficulty arises from the fact that the billetsare supported during their passage through the furnace by pipes or tubeswhich are cooled by water, so that the portions of the billet in contacttherewith will not be highly heated, their temperature being lower thanthe temperature of the rest of the billet. Where the billets aredischarged from these pipes or t ubes onto hearths and allowed to remainthere for a short time, these black or chilled spots will disappear, thehearth being located at the hottest portion of the furnace. While theuse of a hearth as a temporary resting-place for the billets prior totheir removal to the furnace is effective as regards removal of theblack spots, yet the movement of the billets onto and off from thehearth rapidly destroys the same, as the material forming the hearth issofte'nedby the great heat to which it is subjected.

The object of the present invention is to provide a hearth whereon thebillets can be heated to a uniform temperature throughout, and toprotect such hearth as against excessive heating and consequentsoftening to such a condition that it will be quickly injured ordestroyed by the billets passing over it.

It is a further object of the invention to so construct the hearth thatit can be readily renewed or repaired.

form or construction of continuous heatingfurnace, from which thebillets are drawn through a door located in the side of the furnace.

placed upon a truck 4, which is then run in front of the furnace andpushed by the ram 5 off of the truck onto the fore-plate 6, and thenceonto the rails and through the furnace.

.The rails 3 extend to a point adjacent to the front end of the furnace,so as to permit of the billets being forced from the rails directly ontothe hearth. This hearth consists of a metal plate or tray 7, preferablyprovided with upwardly-projecting sides 8,-s0 as to retain the sand,fire-clay, or other material forming the receiving bed of the hearth.Provision is made for preventing an excessive heating of the plate ortray 7 by the circulation of water therethrough. A suitable means foreffecting such circulation and consequent cooling consists in theformation of a series of connected passages formed in the body of thetray or plate, said passages being connected by pipes 9 with a suitablesource of water-supply.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the plate or tray maybe made of such a lengthas to project through openings 10 in the side walls of the furnace andis removably supported upon piers or transverse walls 11,as shown inFig. 1.

- As will be readily understood by those a skilled in the art, thecomparatively cool plate or tray will prevent the sand or other material forming the bed of the hearth from being heated to such an extentas will render it soft and easily injured by the movement of the billetsacross it, but will not prevent the surface of such filling materialfrom attaining such a temperature as will insure the heating din of thechilled or black spots to the required temperature while the billets areresting upon the hearth.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 provision is made for thedischarge of the billets through the end Wall of the furnace, asdescribed in the application heretofore referred to, such meansconsisting, generally stated, in rails or bridge-pieces 12, extendingdown at an angle from the hearth to the dis charge-opening 13 in the endof the furnace. These bridge-pieces are inclined at such an angle thatwhen the billets are pushed 0d of the hearth they will slide quicklydown the inclines over the gas and air fines 14 and through thedischarge-opening 13.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, our improved form of hearth can be applied tofurnaces in which the billets are removed through openings in the sidesof the furnace.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the side openings maybe used asdischarge-openings for the removal of the heated billets by tongs orother suitable mechanism, in which case the bridgepieces 12 are omittedand the rear end of the furnace is made solid or without any opening.

The improvements herein described are readily applicable to forms orconstructions of heating-furnace other than those shown,nor is it ourintention to limit the invention herein to any particular form orconstruction of tray or bed for supporting the filling material nor tothe particular means shown and described for preventing an excessiveheating of the tray,as other means Will readily suggest themselves tothose skilled in the art for effecting these purposes.

We claim herein as our invention- 1. A furnace having in combinationtherewith rails or supports arranged longitudinally of the furnace,hearth supports arranged transversely of the furnace at the inner endsof the rails or supports, a hearth consisting of a plate or tray and arefractory filling material and movable on said supports into and out ofthe furnace, means for pushing billets along the rails and onto thehearth, and inlet and outlet flues arranged respectively at oppositeends of the furnace, substantially as set forth.

v2. A furnace having feed and discharge openings at its ends incombination with rails or supports arranged longitudinally of thefurnace, a removable hearth arranged at the inner ends of the rails orsupports inclined bridge-pieces extending from the hearth to thedischarge-opening and means for pushing the articles to be heated alongthe rails onto and over the hearth and inlet and outlet flues arrangedrespectively at opposite ends of the furnace, substantially as setforth.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands.

ALEXANDER LAUGI-ILIN. JOSEF REULEAUX. Witnesses:

DARWIN S. WoLooTT, F. E. GAITHER.

